1. Technical Field
This device relates to sound collection and amplification devices used to listen to wildlife at a distance such as song birds.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art devices of this type have been developed to capture wildlife sounds at a distance from the listener. Typically, such devices utilize sound enhancing structures such as parabolic dishes having a microphone and amplification electronics to enhance and reproduce the captured sounds. Naturalists rely on the parabolic microphone system that allows the listener to monitor wildlife without disturbing them.
Prior art devices including applicant's own U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,656 which is directed to a method and apparatus for listening to birds using a simple microphone and a parabolic dish.
Other prior art patents can be seen such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,524,059, 5,452,364 and 4,679,834.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,364 a system and method for monitoring wildlife is disclosed having three microphones within a parabolic reflector and multiple amplifiers, one for each microphone with a custom electronic processing circuit that calculates the frequency of vocalization based on digital signal representative of the period of the signal and based on a set of these signals determines the species that emits the vocalization.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,059 a sound amplification method and system is disclosed using multiple pairs of sound reproduction devices to enable a 180 degree phase shift between them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,834 discloses an apparatus and method for varying signal detection for enhancing human hearing using a pair of parabolic connected directional microphone elements responsive to frequency ranging from below audible to above audible frequency range.